Brightspots#17

Don't catch that dreaded ....

Merry Christmas

   
                                              Sharing a special made Christmas card

Inside a kitchen lighter

                                                               Behind the scenes

Uplifting Wed. #151

Around town

 

Brightspots#16

At my school reunion I was looking at a lone woman sitting at a nearby table. My wife asks, "Do you know her?" "Yes," I sighed, "She's my old girlfriend. I understand she took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I hear she hasn't been sober since." "My God!" says my wife, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?" So you see, there really are 2 ways to look at everything.....

The inside of a 6 volt battery

 

Uplifting Wed. #150

A sweet story to share

 The hubby and I walk the mall before it opens for a little exercise and we have done it for about a year now. There is a old woman who has had a stroke who walks with her son and we have noticed that as they walk they stop at the vending machines and she checks to see if there is any change left. A friend who also walks and has for years and years told us that the son sneaks ahead and puts a quarter in the slot for her to find every so often :)

Election Day

 

U.S. elections used to be held over a 34-day window.

As implied by its name, Election Day is, well, a single day. That wasn't always the case, however: States used to hold elections whenever they wanted within a 34-day period leading up to the first Wednesday in December. This ultimately created some issues, as you might imagine — early voting results ended up holding too much sway over late-deciding voters, for one thing. The current date was implemented by the Presidential Election Day Act of 1845, and federal elections now occur every two years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That may sound arbitrary at first, but the date was chosen quite deliberately. American society was much more agrarian in the mid-19th century than it is today, and it took a full day of traveling for many to reach their polling place. Church made weekends impractical, and Wednesday was market day for farmers, so Tuesday proved ideal. November, meanwhile, worked because weather was still fairly mild, and the harvest was complete by then. The current process isn’t perfect, of course. U.S. elections tend to have lower turnout than those of most other developed nations, and there have been calls for decades to make Election Day a national holiday. A 2018 poll found that 65% of Americans favored the idea, though there’s been little legislative movement on the proposal. Should it ever be put to a vote, you know when it will be held.

Brightspots#15

A woman went up to the bar in a quiet rural pub. She gestured alluringly to the bartender who approached her immediately. She seductively signaled that he should bring his face closer to hers. As he did, she gently caressed his full beard. "Are you the manager?" she asked, softly stroking his face with both hands. "Actually, no," he replied. "Can you get him for me? I need to speak to him," she said, running her hands beyond his beard and into his hair. "I'm afraid I can't," breathed the bartender.. "Is there anything I can do?" "Yes. I need you to give him a message," she continued, running her forefinger across the bartender's lip and slyly popping a couple of her fingers into his mouth and allowing him to suck them gently. "What should I tell him?" the bartender managed to say. "Tell him," she whispered "There's no toilet paper, hand soap, or paper towels in the ladies room."

Uplifting Wed. #149

Alaska's flag

 

Alaska’s flag was created by a 13-year-old.

Every flag has a story, but few are as endearing as Alaska’s. One of the rare places to have a flag before it was actually a state, the Last Frontier held a contest to design its territorial standard in 1926-27 — and a 13-year-old won. (The contest was only open to Alaskan children in the 7th-12th grade, but still.) Benny Benson lived in an orphanage known as the Jesse Lee Home in Seward, Alaska, when he came up with the winning design, which included a description he wrote himself: “The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaska flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.” His design also featured “1867” in commemoration of the year the United States bought Alaska from Russia, although the numbers didn’t make the final cut. In addition to being hailed as a local hero, Benson won a watch with his design on it and a $1,000 scholarship. He eventually used that money to attend Hemphill Diesel Engineering School after moving to Seattle in 1936. He was 45 when Alaska became a state in 1959, fulfilling the hopeful description of his design. Alaska kept its flag rather than adopt a new one, and Benson’s work lives on today.

Brightspots #14

                                                       The journey ahead
 

Adam was hanging around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely.
So, God asked him, "What's wrong with you?
Adam said he didn't have anyone to talk to.
God said that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman.
He said, "This pretty lady will gather food for you, she will cook for you, and when you discover clothing, she will wash it for you.
She will always agree with every decision you make and she will not nag you, and always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement.
She will praise you! She will bear your children, and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them.
"She will NEVER have a headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever you need it."
Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?"
God replied, "An arm and a leg.
"Then Adam asked, "What can I get for a rib?" Of course the rest is history......................

Inside a tissue box

Uplifting Wed. #148

 

Amazing

                                       Before and after excavation of ancient Greece 

Beauty

 

Brightspots #13

 

 

Prov. 27:9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, an the pleasantness of one’s friends springs from his earnest counsel

A rare glimpse

 A rare opportunity to take a peek behind the movie theater screen

Uplifting Wed. #147

 

Central Park

 

                                                 Aerial view of Central Park

The plot covers 843 acres. It's two and a half miles long and half a mile wide, nestles in the heart of Manhattan next to the trendy Upper West Side. It's even bigger than the the tiny European country of Monaco, which only covers 500 acres. 

An estimated 42 visitors make their way to the park every year, making it one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.

One of the most interesting facts about Central Park is that although it might look natural, almost all of its rolling slopes and valleys had to be created from scratch. Central Park is an entirely landscaped space, meaning that all of the hills, woodland, lakes and other natural features are entirely man made. 

Central Park has it's very own castle, the Belvedere Castle

which was once used as a weather station but now is a look out.

The largest lake in Central Park is the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, which covers a huge area of over 100 acres, and contains a whopping one billion gallons of water.

          

You will even find Alice in wonderland.

These are just a few tidbits of Central Park for more infor you can go https://www.wanderlustchloe.com/facts-about-central-park/ 

Brightspots #12

 

Four friends spend weeks planning the perfect girl’s getaway trip - shopping, massages, and facials.

Two days before the group is to leave Mary's husband puts his foot down and tells her she isn't going.

Mary's friends are very upset that she can't go, but what can they do.

Two days later the three get to the hotel only to find Mary sitting in the bar drinking a glass of wine.

"Wow, how long you been here and how did you talk your husband into letting you go?"

"Well, I've been here since last night............ Yesterday evening I was sitting on the couch and my husband came up behind me and put his hands over my eyes and said 'Guess who'?"

I pulled his hands off to find all he was wearing was his birthday suit. He took my hand and lead me to our bedroom. The room was scented with perfume, had two dozen candles and rose pedals all over.............On the bed, he had handcuffs and ropes! He told me to tie and cuff him to the bed, so I did. And then he said, "Now, you can do whatever you want."

So here I am.

 

 

 

THREE LITTLE BOYS were concerned because they couldn't get anyone to play with them
They decided it was because they had not been baptized and didn't go to Sunday school.
So they went to the nearest church. But, only the janitor was there.
One little boy said, "We need to be baptized because no one will come out and play with us.
Will you baptize us?"
Sure," said the janitor.
He took them into the bathroom and dunked their little heads in the
toilet bowl, one at a time.
Then he said, "You are now baptized!"
When they got outside, one of them asked, "'What religion do you think we are?"
The oldest one said, "We're not Kathlick, because they pour the water on you."
"We're not Babtis, because they dunk all of you in the water."
"We're not Methdiss, because they just sprinkle water on you.."
The littlest one said, "Didn't you smell that water?"
They all joined in asking, 'Yeah! What do you think that means?'
"I think it means we're Pisskopailians!"

The bat

 

                            The bat is the only mammal capable of true and sustained flight.

Uplifting Wed. #146

 

Our First Ladies #14

 

                                                       Abigail Powers Fillmore

Abigail was born in Stillwater, New York, 1798. She was the youngest of seven children born to Reverend Lemuel Leland Powers, a Baptist minister. Her father died shortly after her birth. Her mother moved the family westward, thinking her scanty funds would go further in a less settled region, and ably educated her small son and daughter beyond the usual frontier level with the help of her late husband's library.

After moving to Cayuga County, New York, by wagon train, they moved in with Cyprus Powers because of their impoverished state. Her father left behind a large library of his personal books, and she was educated by her mother from this wealth of books. She came to love literature and became proficient in other subjects such as math, government, history, philosophy, and geography.  After finishing school she became a teacher. 

In 1814 Abigail became a part-time schoolteacher at the Sempronius Village school. In 1817 she became a full-time teacher and in 1819 she took on another teaching job and began to teach at the private New Hope Academy. Then, in 1824 she became a private tutor in Lisle to three of her cousins. She was then asked to open a private school in Broome County, she opened the school, and in 1825, went back to Sempronius to teach in her original position.

In 1819, she took a teaching post at the new academy in New Hope, where her oldest pupil was 19-year-old Millard Fillmore. The world of knowledge and Fillmore's steady progress in it drew them together, and gradually the relationship of teacher and student evolved into romantic attachment.

After a long courtship, Millard, aged 26, and Abigail, aged 27, were married on February 5, 1826.  Without a honeymoon, they settled at East Aurora, New York. Mrs. Fillmore continued to teach school until the birth of her first child and maintained a lifelong interest in education. She shared her husband's love of books and helped build their personal library.

They had two children, a son and a daughter.

Millard Fillmore won election to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 1833. He served four terms in Congress. In 1848, he because Vice President under Zachary Taylor and Abigail became the second lady of the United States. Taylor died suddenly in mid-1850 and Fillmore seceded him, becoming the nation’s 13^th president (1850-1853).

When Abigail first moved into the White House, she was reportedly appalled at the fact that there was no library in it. With a special appropriation of $2,000 from Congress, she spent contented hours selecting books for a White House library. In the library was Shakespeare, history and geography books, and her piano, which she had taught herself to play. She invited writers such as William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, and Washington Irving, to meet with her and performance artists like Jenny Lind, essentially creating a White House literary salon. "She was reportedly a witty and even erudite conversationalist, the most intellectual of the early first ladies.

When her husband was away, he missed her and wrote her letters about politics, and she would write back offering him advice and counsel on political matters. In fact, he valued her opinion so much that he reportedly never made any important decision without first consulting her. Some history suggests that Abigail advised her husband not to sign the Fugitive Slave Act, which he did in the end sign, losing his nomination for a second term as Abigail predicted would happen if he signed the Act.

As First Lady, Abigail Fillmore left a legacy of women and work. As First Lady, the public was aware that she was educated and had worked as a teacher. They also knew about the library she created, and that teaching is an honorable profession. Abigail paved the way for future women and future first ladies to receive an education and become teachers.

 At the outdoor inaugural ceremonies for Franklin Pierce in 1853, she caught a cold and the next day came down with a fever, which turned into bronchitis and then developed into pneumonia. At age 55 Abigail died just 26 days after leaving the White House, on March 30, 1853, at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., the shortest post-presidential life of any former first lady. Her sudden and quick death became the most widely reported death of a first lady. She was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York. 

 

 The memorial stone was placed by the Abigail Fillmore Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, of Buffalo.

Lego Bridge

 

The Lego-Brücke is a concrete beam bridge which crosses over the Schwesterstraße in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Wuppertal, Germany. In 2011, graffiti and street artist Martin Heuwold repainted the bridge in the style of Lego bricks, receiving national and international media attention for his work

The Joshua tree

 

                  The Joshua tree is the only tree that grows in California's Mojave Desert

Today we enjoy this yucca for its grotesque appearance, a surprising sight in the landscape of biological interest. The Joshua tree’s life cycle begins with the rare germination of a seed, its survival dependent upon well-timed rains. Look for sprouts growing up from within the protective branches of a shrub. Young sprouts may grow quickly in the first five years, then slow down considerably thereafter. The tallest Joshua trees in the park loom a whopping forty-plus feet high, a grand presence in the desert. Judging the age of a Joshua tree is challenging: these “trees” do not have growth rings like you would find in an oak or pine. You can make a rough estimate based on height, as Joshua trees grow at rates of one-half inch to three inches per year. Some researchers think an average lifespan for a Joshua tree is about 150 years, but some of our largest trees may be much older than that.

Brightspots#11

 

Things could be worse....

 

After the eighty-three year old lady finished her annual physical examination, the doctor said,

"You are in fine shape for your age, Mrs. Mallory, but tell me, do you still have intercourse?"

"Just a minute, I'll have to ask my husband," she said..

She stepped out into the crowded reception room and yelled out loud:

"Henry, do we still have intercourse?" And there was a hush.

You could hear a pin drop.

Henry answered impatiently, "If I told you once, Irma, I told you a hundred times...What we have is...

Blue Cross!"

 

Did you know?

                                 How funny I posted this on Flag Day of the United States

The Ohio Burgee is the official flag of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a triangular swallowtail flag, the only non-rectangular U.S. state flag. Its red, white, and blue elements symbolize the state's natural features and order of admission into the Union.

Uplifting Wed. #145 via Pinterest

 

Accurate

 

Brightspots#10

 

                                                                                                                            Say What?

S O M E T I ME S

Sometimes...

when you cry...

no one sees your tears.

Sometimes...

when you are in pain...

no one sees your hurt.

Sometimes...

when you are worried...

no one sees your stress.

Sometimes...

when you are happy..

no one sees your smile ...

-----But FART !! just ONE time... And everybody knows!! -------

Only in Arizona

 

Kosher

Did you know that the glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Uplifting Wed. #144 via Pinterest

 

Not black

                                          Black boxes from a plane are actually orange. 

Our First Ladies #13

                                                 Margaret Mackall  Smith Taylor

  

                                                            First Lady of the United States

                                                                             in role

                                                              March 4, 1849 - July 9, 1850

     

Born in Calver County, Maryland on September 21, 1788, the daughter of Walter Smith, a prosperous Maryland planter and veteran officer of the American Revolution, and the former Ann Mackall, “Peggy” was raised amid refinement and wealth.

While visiting her sister in Kentucky in 1809, she was introduced to Lieutenant Zachary Taylor, who was home on leave.

Lt. Taylor, aged 25, married Peggy Smith, aged 21, on June 21, 1810, at the home of the bride’s sister, Mrs. Mary Chew near Louisville, Kentucky. She followed him from fort to fort as his career advanced except for while he was serving in the Mexican American War; She lived at their Cypress Grove Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi.

With the rise in Zachary Taylor’s political career, his wife Peggy Taylor literally prayed for his defeat, for she dreaded the personal consequences of his becoming the president. By the time she became the First Lady in 1849, the hardships of following her husband from fort-to-fort and enduring several childbirths over the 39 year period had taken their toll. Two small girls died in 1820 of what Taylor called “a violent bilious fever,” which left Peggy’s health impaired; three girls and a boy grew up.

A semi-invalid, she remained in seclusion on the second floor of the White House, leaving the duties of official hostess to her daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Bliss.

After participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a blistering July 4, 1850, President Taylor fell ill and within five days he was dead. Margaret Taylor’s health deteriorated rapidly after his sudden death. She died two years later August 14, 1852, in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was buried next to her husband near Louisville, Kentucky.

 

 

 

Brightspots #9

 

Man driving down road,

Woman driving up same road.

They pass each other.

The woman yells out the window, PIG!

Man yells out window, WITCH!

Man rounds next curve………

Man crashes into a HUGE PIG in middle of road and dies.

Moral of the Story:  If men would just listen!

Do you know where these two are going?

                                 Walmart of course!

Happy Easter

                        The napkin is folded  John 20:7                Thank you Jesus

The world's shortest aqueduct

 

The Veluwemeer Aqueduct: Netherland's Unique Water Bridge

The Veluwemeer Aqueduct is a shallow 9.83 feet (3 m) deep water bridge that allows for small boats and other shallow-draft water vehicles to pass over the road safely and easily.

Uplifting Wed. #143 via Pinterest

 

Globe

                                                                The globe for the blind.

Making things a little easier

 

Brightspots #8

 

A husband and wife are shopping in their local Wal-Mart.
The husband picks up a case of Budweiser and puts it in their cart.
"What do you think you're doing?" asks the wife.
"They're on sale, only $10 for 24 cans," he replies.
"Put them back, we can't afford them," says the wife, and so they carry on shopping.
A few aisles further on along the woman picks up a $20 jar of face cream and puts it in the basket.
"What do you think you're doing?" asks the husband.
"It’s my face cream. It makes me look beautiful," replies the wife.
Her husband retorts, "So does 24 cans of Budweiser and it's half the price."
On the PA system: 'Cleanup on aisle 25, we have a husband down.'

 

 

 

  

The most wasted day is that in which we have not laughed. (Chamfort)

Laughter is inner jogging. (Norman Cousins)

Laughter can relieve tension, soothe the pain of disappointment, and strengthen the spirit for the formidable tasks that always lie ahead. (Dwight D. Eisenhower)